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Just 4 short months after the Third International Congress on Vegetarian Nutrition recognized him for his contributions to the promulgation of information about vegetarian diets, UD Register died as a result of an accident in his home. These proceedings are dedicated to this man, who was beloved by all who knew him.
Ulma Doyle Register was born in West Monroe, LA, on February 4, 1920. He was attracted to chemistry early on and received a BS degree in that area from the Madison College, Madison, TN, in 1942. At Madison, he worked for a company that manufactured meat alternatives, and it was there that he adopted a vegetarian diet, a practice he followed enthusiastically for the remainder of his life.
World War II interrupted Register's educational plans, but his orders from the US Army allowed him to complete his master's program in organic chemistry at Vanderbilt University in 1944. A chance meeting with a member of the army's nutrition division led to his reassignment to that division.
After completing his military assignments in 1947, he enrolled in a doctoral program at the University of Wisconsin at Madison. His dissertation research was in the identification of the nutritional factors involved in pernicious anemia. After Merck and Co, Inc, identified vitamin B-12, he eagerly continued to pursue its identification in various foods. The study of issues related to vitamin B-12 remained his lifelong interest. He received his doctorate in 1950 and, after a year of postdoctoral work at Tulane University setting up their vitamin B-12 laboratory, he accepted an invitation to join the School of Medicine at Loma Linda University as an instructor in biochemistry.
Register soon discovered that not everyone welcomed his advocacy of a vegetarian lifestyle. Recognizing that argument accomplishes little, Reg, or Reggie as he like to be called, performed studies both in humans and animals to show the efficacy of a vegetarian diet. Among other accomplishments, he documented the nutritional adequacy of vegetarian diets to supply protein and reported the biological values of vegetarian foods.
In 1967, Register became the chair of the Department of Nutrition in the newly organized School of Public Health. At that time, graduates from the department's dietetics program were not recognized by the American Dietetic Association primarily because of its negative attitudes toward the program's emphasis on vegetarian diets. He was determined to change that perception and he did.
The acceptance of vegetarian diets and those advocating them became apparent when the California Nutrition Council elected Register to become their third president. His expertise became widely known and he was invited to participate in the 1969 White House Conference on Food, Nutrition, and Health. Register was invited to speak about vegetarian diets at the 55th annual meeting of the American Dietetic Association in 1972. Later, at their request, he coauthored a continuing education manual for dietitians on vegetarian diets. In 1974, he was invited by the Food and Nutrition Board of the National Research Council to write their statement on vegetarian diets.
UD Register began his tenure at Loma Linda University as an instructor. Although his professorial rank ultimately became emeritus professor, he remained, in the truest sense of the word, an instructor. He was never one to merely profess, but rather to live what he wanted to teach. And teach he did, in the formal classroom, and just as diligently in informal settings, wherever they might be. His understanding was combined with the ability to explain the complexities of nutritional science and make theory practical to people of widely different backgrounds.
Early in his career, Register realized that sharing research results with the general public was at least as important as the research itself. He traveled across the nation and around the world, sharing his knowledge of vegetarian nutrition. His clear explanations brought understanding to thousands. Register was quick to see the advantages of the mass media, and with his wife, Helen, became an integral part of Art Linkletter's It's Your World television program.
Those who knew him were delighted to see him honored: first at the School of Public Health recognition banquet at which he received the school's Distinguished Service Award; second at the Third International Congress on Vegetarian Nutrition for his contributions to our understanding about vegetarian diets; and finally, at Loma Linda University's graduation, at which he was honored with the university's Distinguished Service Award. Throughout all the recognition, he remained the humble and caring man he had always been, a man thoroughly dedicated to what he believed in. Reg was much more than a mere scientist, researcher, academician, or administrator. He was the truest of gentlemen, one whose optimism, patience, and encouraging ways are missed. We will long remember the inspiration of his life and are pleased to dedicate these proceedings to his memory.
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ACKNOWLEDGMENTS |
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